On hearing of the death of one of his closest friends he wrote, Why take young lives like Peters? During the summer of 1941 Wellum engaged Bf 109s and claimed one destroyed, one probably destroyed, and a third probably damaged. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Wellum was educated at Forest School, Snaresbrook, where he captained the school cricket team.[3]. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Wellum had barely completed his training as a pilot when he was rushed to join No 92 Squadron. It should have been. Squadron Leader Geoffrey Harris Augustus Wellum DFC [1][2] was a British fighter pilot and author, best known for his participation in the Battle of Britain. It was the German you didn't see who shot you down. Then I got cross. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Approached in 2000 by author JamesHolland who was researching a novel set during the Battle of Britain, Wellum lent him his unpublished memoir (see "First Light", below), Holland showed it to friends in publishing at PenguinBooks and, in 2002, Eleo Gordon, Penguin's editorial director, approached Wellum with a publishing deal[6][14] two decades after he had originally written the memoir. Try again. Later he became a commodities broker. The series aired on Netflix in 2019, after his death, and the episode "Battle of Britain" is dedicated in his memory. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. [6], Life for Wellum at the end of his career as a fighter pilot was never be quite the same. Geoffrey Wellum, the youngest Spitfire pilot to fly in the Battle of Britain, has died, aged 96. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Patrick Tootal, secretary of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, said members of the charity's staff and volunteers had been "much saddened by the news". Later in the war he served in the defense of Malta before returning to England for duty as an instructor pilot. One of the "Few", the. This officer has been with his squadron since the evacuation of Dunkirk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He joined the local choir, and became deputy harbourmaster. He left the service in 1960 with the rank of Squadron Leader. Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Wellum, who was just 18 when he joined the RAF in August 1939 . He left the service in 1961, after 22 years, in the rank of squadron leader. ", He's a natural writer, I say, so how about another book? [4] On 9 September 1940, 92 Squadron was posted to RAFBigginHill in Kent, in the centre of the fighting. [3] In 1943, he married Grace Neil, his wartime girlfriend, with whom he had three children. Please try again later. This is a carousel with slides. That made the unexpected attention in his eighties all the more gratifying, although he always saw himself as a representative of all who had served. When I was first given one to fly, he recalled, my emotion was almost intimidation. He was immediately attacked by a Messerschmitt Bf 109; he had run out of ammunition and he had great difficulty escaping after his Spitfire was badly damaged. It will enhance any encyclopedic page you visit with the magic of the WIKI 2 technology. He wrote: Will I ever know quite the feeling and trust and comradeship in a front line Spitfire squadron, and in such a period of our countrys history, ever again? The book became a bestseller and was adapted for a 2010 drama-documentary to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The intention was to engage with the Luftwaffe in combat, and to escort RAF bombing missions. The first aircraft he flew was the Tiger Moth at Desford . Wellum had done his Royal Air Force training on de Havilland Tiger Moth biplanes and North American Harvard monoplanes. This browser does not support getting your location. Died. There it all is, the whole arena for bloody battle, and there they are, the enemy. The sun glints on their wings and bellies as they roll like trout in a stream streaking over smooth round pebbles. During the passage of the vital re-supply convoy to Malta, Operation Pedestal, Wellum flew patrols over the convoy and the island and attacked ground targets in Sicily, but his headaches became severe and he was grounded with sinusitis. During the battle he had shot down a Heinkel He 111 bomber, and claimed a quarter share in a Ju 88. Congratulations on this excellent venture what a great idea! A 1941 photograph taken at Biggin Hill, Kent, of Geoffrey Wellum, right, and Brian Kingcome, another fighter pilot, in front of a Spitfire. Geoffrey Wellum was born in Walthamstow in 1921. "It doesn't matter," Wellum says, unconvincingly. The next few days proved to be the climax of the battle and Wellum was in constant action, sometimes flying three sorties a day. "I am certain that my time came with my three years as an operational fighter pilot in our nation's finest hour. Two days later Britain declared war on Germany. It was there that Wellum began his combat career, "chasing isolated German aircraft all over the south-west". Share this memorial using social media sites or email. He had been mad about aircraft as a boy and joined the service straight out of school. After a rest he was loaned to the Gloster Aircraft Company to test-fly the Typhoon fighter, and later in the war he became an air gunnery instructor. [3], Wellum's first commanding officer was Roger Bushell, (later immortalised in The Great Escape). Battle of Britain pilot who wrote a dramatic personal account of his wartime experiences. In May 1940, before his flight training was complete,[4] Wellum was posted to 92 Squadron, which was a combat squadron flying Spitfires. [8], Wellum claimed a Heinkel He 111 shot down on 11 September, and a quarter share in a Junkers Ju 88 downed on 27 September 1940. Try again later. Although just 18, he was not the youngest pilot to fight in the battle, an honour which is currently held by Martyn Aurel King, born 15 October 1921 - [7]) despite being nicknamed "Boy" by his colleagues. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from exhaustion, aged 20, having by then completed two full tours, including dozens of fighter sweeps and bomber escort details. Geoffrey Wellum was born on 4 August 1921, an only child, in Walthamstow, Essex, to Percy and Edith Wellum. We have created a browser extension. He composed a memoir of his wartime experiences that was finally published in 2002, entitled "First Light: The Story of the Boy Who Became a Man in the War Torn Skies Above Britain". Oops, we were unable to send the email. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Geoffrey Wellum, born . "As the three ships come through the harbour entrance, just about maintaining steerage way, the cheering of the Maltese who have to welcome her in slowly subsides until there is absolute silence. But was the writing at least cathartic? In 1943 he married Grace Neill and the couple had three children. Within a year, he was sent to join his boyhood heroes in the hellraising 92 Squadron. Wellum joined a family haulage business, but this went bust and afterwards he worked as a sugar broker in the City. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. [3] This was followed by a four-year tour with 192 Squadron. He died on 18 July 2018 in the UK. There was a problem getting your location. During the fierce air battles over northern France in May 1940 there was an urgent need to replace fighter pilots lost in combat. Wellum never intended his memoir for publication, but two years ago, he gave it to James Holland, a young author researching a novel set during the Second World War. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). In the mid-1980s he retired and . "One time, I had literally to fight my way back to the White Cliffs; on another, there was a German hanging on my tail, who wouldn't let me go. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. At school, I was captain of cricket and a monitor." Sqn Ldr Wellum was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and was later promoted to flight commander with 65 Squadron. All in all it was a good TV movie. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? After a brief period flying Vampire and Meteor jets, while based in Germany, he converted to heavy aircraft, notably B29 Washingtons. [3], To prove to himself that he had actually done something with his life,[14] Wellum took his wartime notebooks and wrote a longhand memoir of his time as a Spitfire pilot, that he never intended for publication. It unwound me, but it couldn't get it out of my system. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? The Nazis, flushed with a series of astonishing victories, appeared invincible, with a far greater number of planes and pilots. In 1953 he converted to jet aircraft and six months later joined No192 Squadron flying the Canberra on reconnaissance sorties. Although urged to continue his career as an author, he never found a theme that inspired him as much. His marriage and business collapsed. We are on our own against this Teutonic monster, this arrogant bully, the invader of small nations., He always said that the friends he made during this period proved irreplaceable, and he mourned the waste of their young lives. He worked for a family haulage business and, after that went under, spent time working as a commodity broker in the City. ). Wellum led a flight of eight Spitfires to be carried on aircraft carrier HMSFurious, sailing from the Clyde to the Mediterranean, and then land them on the island. I experience an exhilaration that I cannot recall ever having felt before, he wrote in First Light. He joined the local choir, and became deputy harbourmaster. "Only this week Sqn Ldr Wellum had been talking enthusiastically about attending the Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey on 16 September," he said. Recent Battle of Britain Association visits of schools revealed that virtually no children were aware of the events of 1940. It felt like a thoroughbred horse watching a new rider and wondering how much to be bloody-minded. Wellum suffered severe sinusitis and battle fatigue after three years' intensive frontline flying. There he shared the responsibility with an American office for three Thor ballistic nuclear missiles. Nothing can possibly quite rise to such heights.. Ellie Cullen. [3], After his return to England, Wellum did not return to combat duties, instead finishing the war as a gunnery instructor. Wellum has contributed to various television documentaries on the Battle of Britain, including Spitfire Ace produced by RDF Media/Channel 4 (2004),[16] Dangerous Adventures for Boys produced by Channel 5 (2008),[17] and The Spitfire: Britain's Flying Past produced by the BBC (September 2011). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The marriage was later dissolved. In air combat over France, Wellum's number two, Freddie Haskett, was killed by a Fw 190, and Wellum himself survived only by "throwing the spit all over the sky without really looking round". [6] Bushell was shot down and captured almost immediately after Wellum's arrival, and was later executed by the Gestapo in the aftermath of the "Great Escape". He was 21 and his war was over. (modern). . "Aged seventeen, he signed up on a short-service commission with the Royal Air Force in August 1939. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/219366673/geoffrey-harris_augustus-wellum. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Wellum had an extraordinary story to tell, and the book he wrote is a huge success it has reached number three on the non-fiction bestsellers list, behind Antony Beevor's Berlin: the Downfall and The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. Colum MacKenzie (Gary Lewis) is Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) Uncle. "The Battle of Britain made me want to put a value on life. Wellum was educated at ForestSchool, Snaresbrook, where he captained the school cricket team.[3]. Flying alongside celebrated pilots such as Brian Kingcome, Bob Stanford Tuck and Tony Bartley, and then in Sailor Malans wing from 1941, Wellum destroyed four enemy aircraft and damaged several others, although being bloody-minded he was not meticulous in keeping a record of his kills. We have set your language to You need a Find a Grave account to continue. Although alive to the beauty of flight, there is little of the heroic romanticism about aerial combat that afflicts other memoirs of the period. Having learnt to fly in Tiger Moths, he first went solo on September 1, 1939. Approached in 2000 by author James Holland who was researching a novel set during the Battle of Britain, Wellum lent him his unpublished memoir (see "First Light", below), Holland showed it to friends in publishing at Penguin Books and, in 2002, Eleo Gordon, Penguin's editorial director, approached Wellum with a publishing deal[6][14] two decades after he had originally written the memoir. There is a little bit of artistic licence in it, the BBC wanted a bit of a love scene in it and as I was going to get a bag of gold well, not exactly, something to buy me another beer I went along with it.. In 1943 Wellum married Dorothy Grace Neil. Another Bf 109 was claimed in 1941, and there may have been more, as he was not one greatly concerned with recording such things. It is 40mph faster, has very good armament and a very high rate of roll". or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Wellum had married, in 1943, Dorothy Grace Neil, with whom he was to have three children: Anna was flight attendant and now works part-time in the NHS; Deborah, who died in 2017, had a career in the music business, notably with Apple Records; and Neil has been latterly a senior marine environmental inspector and manager. [3] This was followed by a four-year tour with 192Squadron. In 2002 these were published as First Light. I must be getting lightheaded! [9], In the summer of 1941 Wellum participated in more than 50 "sweeps" over occupied France (also known as Circus offensives) flying escort for Blenheim and Stirling bomber formations, taking the war to the enemy. In May 1940 eighteen-year old Geoffrey Wellum joins the 92 squadron of the Royal Air Force and is taken to the pub,where pilots who have seen action sign their names on a blackboard. Geoffrey Wellum, who has died aged 96, was the author of one of the most gripping personal accounts of aerial warfare ever written. "The Air Force soon knocked that out of me.
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